Maxim Thorne

Maxim Thorne is an American lawyer and civil rights advocate who was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Civic Influencers in June 2021. He is a Fellow and Lecturer on philanthropy at Yale University. He became a Senior Vice-President of the NAACP in 2008,[1][2] where he helped establish the first LGBT Task Force. Thorne helped argue Abbott v. Burke on behalf of Head Start and the NAACP in the New Jersey Supreme Court.[3][4][5]

Maxim Thorne
Chief Executive Officer, Civic Influencers(formerly CEEP) Former Senior Vice-President of the NAACP (Term Start October 2008)
In office
June 2021 – Incumbent
Personal details
Born24 November 1964
Georgetown, Guyana
NationalityAmerican

Early life and education

Thorne was born in Georgetown, Guyana on 24 November 1964. He spent his early years in Nassau, Bahamas along with his sister, Katya, attending St. Thomas Moore's Primary School, until he was 10, then returned to Guyana where he attended St. Margaret's Primary School and Queen's College.[6] His mother, Eslyn Thorne, who is of mixed Indian and Chinese descent, met his father, who is also multi-racial (Black, White, and Asian), while in Georgetown, Guyana. Thorne immigrated to the United States in 1984. He is the great-grandson of Alfred A. Thorne, a human rights advocate and educator in British Guiana.[1]

Thorne holds a bachelor's degree with cum laude honours in economics and political science from Yale College[6][7][1] and a JD from Yale Law School.[8]

Career

In 2012 he taught "Philanthropy in Action" at Yale, where a gift by an anonymous donor allowed students to donate $100,000 to charitable causes.[9]

Thorne became Managing Director of The Andrew Goodman Foundation in 2016. Thorne was appointed Executive Vice-President of the Paley Center for Media in 2013.[10]

Previously he was chief operating officer at Human Rights Campaign, and Vice-President at Human Rights Campaign Foundation.[11]

Formerly, Thorne was Executive Director of New Jersey Head Start, an association of all the Head Start Programs in New Jersey. While at the NJHSA, he oversaw the implementation of Abbott v. Burke, the New Jersey Supreme Court decision that mandated parity in funding and Whole School Reform. Thorne joined the Passaic County Legal Aid Society (PCLAS) in 1996, and promoted to Deputy Director in June 1998. He and the Executive Director, John Atlas,  created  the Community and Economic Development law unit in 1997, the first in New Jersey, that represented and empowered faith-based and other community groups that were solving housing and education problems in Passaic County’s low-income neighborhoods.  Among many innovations, Thorne created Cable TV programs: Know Your Rights, Working Together for Equal Justice, and Education in Your Neighborhood. As the head of the law unit he had represented Head Start, the New Jersey NAACP State Conference, and daycare centres in later litigation (Abbott VIII).[12] For this and other efforts the Passaic Legal Aid Society won the first annual "Lawyer as Problem Solver Award" of the American Bar Association in 2002.[13][14]https://casetext.com/case/abbott-v-burke-20

Personal life

Thorne is openly gay.[14]

References
  1. "NAACP PRESIDENT BUILDS STRONG LEADERSHIP TEAM". NAACP.org. 25 September 2008. Archived from the original on 18 October 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  2. "Archived copy". Metro Weekly. 19 February 2009. Archived from the original on 2 March 2009. Retrieved 29 April 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "A Truce in New Jersey's School War". The New York Times. 9 February 2002. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  4. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 November 2010. Retrieved 5 April 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. Newlin, Eliza (2 August 2010). "National Journal Online – Education Experts – Contributor Profile". Education.nationaljournal.com. Archived from the original on 7 July 2012. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  6. "PROGRAM.indd" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 March 2007. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  7. "AYA Blue Print :: Black Alumni Gather in New York". Alumni.yale.edu. 17 June 2005. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  8. "The League". Theleagueonline.org. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  9. Shelton, Jim (1 January 2012). "Yale class gets $100G gift to donate to others (video)". New Haven Register. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  10. "The Paley Center for Media Announces Three Key Executive Appointments (Press Release)". Paley Center for Media. 10 June 2013. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  11. BBC News Archived 28 January 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  12. "Poverty Law". Poverty Law. 22 February 2002. Archived from the original on 13 May 2006. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  13. James, George (15 December 2002). "N.J. LAW; Cutbacks Loom for Legal Aid". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  14. "Building bridges with the NAACP". 15 October 2009.
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